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In South Africa now, research shows that one in two children will grow up without their fathers, a worrying statistic that can have devastating effects especially on boys and on society.

Thuthukani Ndebele, a researcher with South African Institute of Race Relations, points out that: "You are looking at about 35 percent of the population being children and if you look specifically at data on absent fathers you find that something about 14.6 percent of kids have absent fathers.”

Magadi laughs with delight as she tells of how her son, Matheatsie, a seven-year-old learner in Grade 2 at Moipone Primary in the Free State, completed a sum by himself for the first time. “It took me by surprise. We’d been playing maths games together, counting on his fingers, for a long time – and then, all of a sudden; he showed me how he had developed this new skill.”

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) says the only one in three teenagers who fall pregnant continues her education after delivery, despite the South African Schools Act, which says that ‘girls who become pregnant should not be denied access to education.’

The UNFPA estimates that 51 000 South African schoolgirls gave birth in 2011 and the Department of Health reports that eight percent of the women who give birth in public hospitals and clinics are less than 18 years old.

Communications Minister, Faith Muthambi, says that parents need government’s help in protecting children against online abuse.

Speaking at the Film and Publication Board’s (FPB) Media Content Classification and Online Protection Conference in Johannesburg, Muthambi said that most of the time, parents are not even aware of their children’s online activity.

The Parent Centre is a nonprofit, primary preventive organisation offering comprehensive parenting education and support services.

The Parent Centre seeks to appoint a Qualified Social Worker, based in Cape Town.

The person will oversee projects, facilitation of training and parenting workshops and groups in English and Afrikaans, Individual Counselling in English and Afrikaans, supervision of Support Group facilitators, Assisting with general requests for parenting workshops, Material development.

The Gauteng Department of Social Development says that most teenagers in the province admit to preferring unsafe sex.

Social development MEC, Nandi Mayathula-Khoza, who briefed the media on the department study, ‘Factors Associated with Teenage Pregnancy in Gauteng Province’, pointed out that teen pregnancies are a problem that could not be ignored.

Mayathula-Khoza, who is of the view that teenage pregnancy contributes the level of unemployment, also added that, “…girls who fall pregnant have a right to continue with school.”

Cape Town Child Welfare says that about 20 000 children in the Western Cape are in foster care because of abuse, neglect and their parents' drug use.

The organisation’s chief executive officer, Niresh Ramklass, has been quoted by the Cape Times as saying that poverty is not helping the already bleak situation.

Ramklass further says that, "It is quite stark. It would be best if children were not taken from their homes, but if we don't have a proper social net to protect our children, they will be lost. Many of them will die."

Presidential spokesperson, Mac Maharaj, has come to the defence of one of the president’s wives, Nompumelelo Ntuli-Zuma, who had suggested that child support grants be scrapped and the money used instead for old-age pensions.

Ntuli-Zuma was quoted by the New Age as saying that, “Most young teen mothers dump their babies with their grandmothers, while gallivanting around and abusing the grants money” on luxury items, including cellphone airtime.